Entertainment

The ‘Blinded By The Light’ Soundtrack Includes A Song You Almost Heard In Harry Potter

by Johnny Brayson
Warner Bros.

In just the past year, there has been a deluge of films centered around the music of classic rock stars. There was the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, the Elton John biopic Rocket Man, and the Beatles-themed fantasy Yesterday. The latest is Blinded By the Light, which, unsurprisingly, is not about the music of Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Instead it's about the music of the man who wrote the titular song, Bruce Springsteen, and the Blinded By the Light soundtrack features loads of other Springsteen tracks that fans will find more than a little interesting.

For one thing, it's pretty rare for Springsteen to lend out his music for commercial purposes, let alone allow a ton of his songs to populate a movie soundtrack. But the singer/songwriter was quite taken with the film's story about a teenage Pakistani immigrant who finds solace in The Boss's music after emigrating to London in the '80s. The film is based on the book by author/Springsteen fan Sarfraz Manzoor, Greetings from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N’ Roll. Springsteen had already read the book by the time filmmaker Gurinder Chadha approached him about turning it into a movie, according to Variety, and the rocker was all for the idea. But the film didn't simply load up on the artist's greatest hits. Instead, the movie brings in a number or rarities, including one that should be of particular interest to Harry Potter fans.

Warner Bros.

The soundtrack features a dozen tracks by The Boss, including the titular song and classics like "Born to Run" and "Hungry Heart." But there are also a few ultra rare tracks that even superfans may not have heard. These include live versions of "The River” and "The Promised Land," both of which have never officially been released before. Then there's "I'll Stand By You Always." This song was first written by Springsteen for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but the filmmakers opted not to use it and the song was never released, according to Rolling Stone. "It was something that I thought would have fit lovely [in the movies]," Springsteen said in 2017. "At some point I’d like to get ["I’ll Stand By You Always"] into a children’s movie of some sort. It was a pretty lovely song." Now, Springsteen is finally getting his wish.

The film's full track list is below, and in addition to the plethora of Bruce Springsteen songs, there are also selections from A.R. Rahman's score, other period-appropriate pop songs, and original tracks performed by the cast.

  1. "Ode to Javed" / "Javed's Poem" - A.R. Rahman
  2. "It's a Sin" - Pet Shop Boys
  3. "The Sun Always Shines On T.V." - a-ha
  4. "The Boss Of Us All" - 'Blinded By The Light' cast
  5. "Dancing In the Dark" - Bruce Springsteen
  6. "You Should Be Listening to Our Music" - 'Blinded By The Light' cast
  7. "I Never Knew Music Could Be Like That" - 'Blinded By The Light' cast
  8. "The River" - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
  9. "Number One Paki Film" - 'Blinded By The Light' cast
  10. "Badlands" - Bruce Springsteen
  11. "Cover Me" - Bruce Springsteen
  12. "Thunder Road" - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
  13. "Get Out of My Way Fascist (Pigs)" - Amer Chadha-Patel
  14. "Do It For Me" - 'Blinded By The Light' cast
  15. "Prove It All Night" - Bruce Springsteen
  16. "Hungry Heart" - Bruce Springsteen
  17. "You, Me... and Bruce" - 'Blinded By The Light' cast
  18. "Because the Night" - Bruce Springsteen
  19. "Maar Chadapa" - Heera
  20. "The Promised Land" - Bruce Springsteen
  21. "Blinded By The Light" - Bruce Springsteen
  22. "Born to Run" - Bruce Springsteen
  23. "I'll Stand By You" - Bruce Springsteen
  24. "For You My Love" - A.R. Rahman

The Blinded By the Light soundtrack is available for preorder now from all the usual music outlets. Its digital and CD versions will be released on Aug. 9, while a vinyl edition hits stores on Aug. 30.